TRANSFORMATION (PART 3)
When the soul's particles do their little dance and come together in what we recognize as the joy of a true vision of ourselves, we also often experience a sense of panic. Deep down in our heart we recognize that the time has come to switch direction, and leave behind the comfort of the known, conventional path. Any such change comes with acknowledging that we've reached a crossroad, and that if we choose the untested territory of our own authentic path, we're headed into the exciting and scary unknown.
To move forward, we're asked to embrace the uncertainty and make it our companion.
You enter the forest at the darkest point,
where there is no path.
If there is a way or path,
it is someone else’s path.
If you follow someone else’s way,
you are not going to realize your potential.”
- Joseph Campbell
We could, of course, decide to stay where we are, in the place we know, for all the good and bad that comes with it. We might find all sorts of reasons to explain why we choose stay on the conventional path, reasons which can make perfect sense. We could list those reasons, we could build a solid case upon them, until we eventually will fully close the door to our heart, and tune out of the joy of the vision that had been born.
What's interesting about it though, is that the vision we had will never go away. I heard stories of people who on their death bed talk about the path not taken, the vision not followed, the joy they could have experienced if only they listened to their heart that one time. That's the ultimate tragedy, I believe. The birth of a beautiful vision, never allowed to thrive and grow up.
And yet, we often do take that authentic, virgin, scary path. The first time we step onto our own path, we panic and we say to ourselves or others things like - "I'm crazy to think I could do this" or "I can't believe I'm doing this" or "I'll just give it a try and will probably come back to my old job if this isn't working out". We panic when others say those things to us.
And yet, we sit with the idea that keeps springing in our hear and in our dreams, and we allow ourselves keep going, fueled by what might appear a silly enthusiasm. Fueled by the feeling that if we don't do this thing something in us will always be missing. Fueled by the feeling that going on that scary new path is the only way to move forward.
From the many times I've taken the unknown path so far (13 times! I counted them when I journaled earlier today), from the many people I interviewed, and many more I listened to be interviewed by others, I found that we really only take this authentic path and transform into who we're meant to be only when in our heart we feel with certainty that there is no other way. That any other way would be so painful that we couldn't do it no matter what the consequences. Until that happens, we keep going, chugging along the conventional path, telling ourselves all sorts of very well articulated reasons, carefully crafted to convince ourselves, and fool ourselves into believing that we felt is not realistic, or real.
The reason transformation takes that long if it ever happens, is because we're resilient humans who are able to put up with a lot of pain. The more resilient to pain, the more we can sustain a path that doesn't fit us.
That's why, only when we decide to sit and listen to our heart, when we allow our heart to be heard with gentle compassion, we hear its clear voice.
Many of us only accept the path of authenticity when we get to a point when no other options are at all viable. Only then, when we've run out of ideas and we feel the pain of having been wearing at too small shoes for too long, we listen. That's when transformation really begins to expand, and when our life begins to make fast progress.
The goal of transformation is deliberate joy and daily enthusiasm that come from being on our true path. Are there going to be roadblocks? Guaranteed. Is it going to be exciting? No doubt. Will we succeed? We already have, by just being on our own Path.
